Green and Kidney Bean Pasta "Salad"

I threw this together the other weekend when Steph and Alan came - I just have been soooo busy that I hadn't posted. I found the recipe in Real Simple and basically followed it to a T - so not a Summer original.

I made this actually during that little heat wave, so it was kind of appropriate because it had a light "summer" (ahh thank yah, thank yah very much) feel to it.

It is a quick dish so do this when you are crunched for time.

Total time: 20 minutes. Serves 2
0
Cook 4 ounces of penne. (Oppure, penne rigate per i chef italiani come me)
Add about a cup of halved green beans during the last 3 minutes or so of cooking. Drain. If you want this dish served cold, rinse with cold water. Otherwise set aside. Toss the pasta and green beans with 1 cup of rinsed kidney beans and chopped parsley (about 1/4 cup), grated Parm cheese (say 2 tbsp), 2 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix and eat.

Caprese Salad

Italian meets French - like me and Lauren! So last night Dan and I opted for a lighter, more euro friendly type meal. The sort of meal you could throw together while watching Glee and Biggest Loser (a night of indulgence? ridiculous).

The caprese salad was so good. I rinsed and sliced some ripe tomatoes. Then I sliced up some fresh mozzarella we bought at Stinky Brooklyn. I arranged these on a plate with some fresh basil I picked and also a little arugula we had leftover. I drizzled it with some EVOO and buon appetito or bon appetite.

We also bought some Pico, which is a soft goat cheese, and had it with some Salchichon sausage and fresh bread. It was like I was a misplaced wanna-be Roman on vacation in Paris all over again.

Baltimore Billy's Chicken Parmesan

Baltimore Bill. He comes by once in awhile, raises Cain and then, perhaps mercifully, leaves. I'm kidding. This is Dan, guest blogger. I'm here to write the tale of my best man's chicken parm. Sum and I listened to him brag about its awesomeness this weekend, and decided to give it a try (after he left, so as not to offend if we f***ed it up). In my humble opinion, we succeeded. I liked it so much that I took it to work for lunch the next day. Here are the details:

Ingredients

• Chicken breasts (the thicker, the better. We usually buy a pack of three--one for each of us for dinner, and one for me for the next day's lunch)
• Fresh lemon
• Milk
• Bread crumbs (ours are years old, I recommend fresher)
• Mozzarella cheese
• American cheese
• Tomato sauce
• Spaghetti
• Olive oil
• Parmesan cheese

In a frying pan, cook up the chicken, adding just a hint of olive oil. At the same time, get some water boiling for the pasta. Once the chicken is done cooking (cook it fully--you don't want to get sick like when that family at my church cooked chicken gizards years back and everyone hurled), dip it in a bowl full of squeezed lemon juice mixed with milk. Baltimore Bill just uses fresh lemon juice, but we wanted to make sure those crumbs stuck, so we added some milk. It looked curdy and nasty, but as they say, it all goes down the same! Then, dip the chicken boobs into the bread crumbs, coating the entire surface. The chicken should now be covered fully in bread crumbs.

Lay the chicken into a broiling pan (with aluminum foil on the bottom--we don't like crusties when doing dishes), pour on some tomato sauce, and drop some american and mozzarella cheese on top. Put these in the broiler at 425 for about 10 minutes. Simultaneously, cook up your spaghetti so it's all good and ready when the chicken is done. You'll know that your chicken is ready for carnage when the cheese is melted.

Heat up some more sauce for the pasta, and drop the chicken, pasta, and sauce on the plate. I always sprinkle some parmesan cheese on my pasta. That's right--three cheeses for one meal. Anything less would be uncivilized. Top it all off with a big ole glass of milk and you'll  be feeling full.

Baltimore Bill, thanks for allowing us the pleasure of devouring your chicken boobs. Sum, thanks for being an awesome cooking--and life--companion.

Arugula Pizza 2

I'm telling you, nothing tastes better on a pizza than fresh arugula. mmm. Dan and I are continuing to expand our pizza repetoire. We made this bad boy Thursday night. Fresh prosciutto, cherry tomatoes, arugula, green pepper, olive oil and, that oh so necessary item on every pizza - oregano! mm.

Other recipes coming up tonight.

Lazy Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Yum. This is a great dish to have while watching a game or match (US Open anyone?) or to bring to a party.

I made such an easy version you can microwave it instead of baking it, who needs to know the difference? If you do want to bake it, heat the oven to about 350 degrees and bake for about 30 minutes. Sprinkle cheese on top first.

Ingredients
-1 package of frozen chopped spinach thawed and squeezed dry. If you do things last minute like me you can always nuke it too.
-8oz or a little less of softened cream cheese. I prefer a little less just because I don't really want too much cream cheese flavor.
-1 1/2 cups of shredded cheese. I used a mexican cheese mix, you can also use cheddar, etc.
-1 can of artichoke hearts drained and chopped
-2 cloves of minced garlic
-sprinkle some parmesan in, I used maybe 1/2 a cup.

Mix together and microwave for 2 minutes and mix it, then microwave a little more so it is hot throughout.  I mixed it several times.

Other recipes call for some mayonnaise, sour cream and/or water chestnuts. Totally up to you. If you want it more moist then I would add some mayo or sour cream.

I served mine in a bowl. If you want to bake it you can use a casserole dish. It goes great with tostito chips or pita bread.

Grazin' Angus Acres Ribs

Sunday we went to the Farmer's Market at Carroll Park. I grabbed two ears of what was probably the best corn I have ever eaten and the man, not surprisingly, was quickly seduced by the table for Angus Acres. What can I say, my man recognizes a good side of meat (me). The guy working there selected two packages of ribs after sizing us up and told us about how a few weeks ago they got a call for about 350 servings of their meat. They thought they couldn't handle an order that size and at first said no. After crunching the numbers they decided they could do it.... so now we got to eat the same meat served (exclusively) at Chelsea Clinton's wedding, cool huh?

We did a slooooooww bake on this guy. First we marinated the meat (in a deep metal pan) in some red wine (save a good amount to go with the meal!), brown sugar, olive oil, salt and pepper for at least an hour. Flip it after 30 minutes to make sure both sides get well soaked (marinade should reach the halfway mark of the meat to make this process even). Preheat the oven to 250 degrees for some slllooow, hot lovin'. Sear the meat on top of the stove in a frying pan  for just a few minutes on each side to lock in the moisture. Pour the marinade in a bowl before you return the seared meat to the pan. Cook in the oven for as long as the meat decides. Keep brushing on marinade to maintain the moisture. We cooked ours for about 3 hours..

It was fun watching the man revert back to his primitive state. His plate when done is the last picture... scary. He said it rivaled Peter Luger's and the best meat he had in Brazil - not bad.

ENJOY!

Banana Bread

So I froze two bananas the other day because Dan and I were going home for a week. I figured I could make banana bread with it when we came back. This was my first time making it and to be honest I wasn't sure if I even liked banana bread-I just knew Dan did. So I used my mom's recipe and... it was delicious! I was nervous when I was scooping out the mushy banana (really, I almost yacked it seemed so gross) but I have been scarfing it down all weekend. This stuff is delicious.

Ingredients
-1/2 cup of butter (softened at room temp)
-1/2 cup of honey
-2 eggs
-2 cups of flour
-1 tsp baking soda
-1/4 tsp salt
-2 or 3 large ripe bananas
-1 cup of chopped walnuts

Cream the butter and add honey and beaten eggs. Add dry ingredients alternately with mashed bananas to the butter mixture. Add nuts.

Bake 60 minutes at 350 degrees in a loaf pan that has been sprayed with pam or buttered. (if using small loaf pans like I did you might cook it for less time) Check for doneness with a toothpick. Enjoy!

Capellini with Prosciutto and Nectarines

Considering it has been sooooo long since I really cooked something new I decided to be pretty adventurous on this one. I also knew I wanted something that didn't involve much cooking because it was HOT last night. This was really yummy, especially on a summer night because of the nectarine slices in it.


Ingredients (for 2 with leftovers)
-1/2 box capellini (or other) pasta
-1/8 pound of prosciutto
-1 nectarine (or 2)
-1 tomato (or 2)
-any greens, like spinach or basil
-fresh Parmesan and feta cheese
-extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
-1 clove of garlic

Get water boiling for your capellini pasta. The actual pasta cooks really fast because it is so thin. So you can prepare everything before you even put the pasta in the water.

While the water heats up, chop up 1 or 2 nectarines, 1 or 2 tomatoes, and 1 garlic clove. Wrap the prosciutto slices around a few of the nectarines (not all!). I only wrapped 6 nectarine slices. The rest of the prosciutto will be saved for sandwiches.

Once the water starts boiling cook the pasta, it only takes about 2 minutes. Drain the pasta and put the pasta, some Parmesan cheese, the chopped tomato, nectarine (not the slices with prosciutto), garlic, greens, and some EVOO in a saute pan. Mix together and let it warm over the stove. Plate this and sprinkle some more Parmesan cheese and crumble some feta on top. Place prosciutto wrapped nectarine slices on top and voila! Enjoy.

and it makes fiance happy too!

Salmon Loaf

This is from Betty Crocker's Cookbook

It cooks for two, or you can double it and make a full loaf (don't need to add salt). Very healthy.

1 can of (15 1/2 ounces each) salmon drained and flaked (reserve liquid)

1 egg

milk

1 1/2 cups coarse cracker crumbs

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp chopped onion

dash of pepper

Mix salmon and egg. Add enough milk to reserve salmon liquid to measure 3/4 cup. Stir liquid mixture and remaining ingredients into salmon mixture. Spoon lightly into greased loaf pan (use greased parchment paper or foil for easy cleanup). 9x5x3 inches. If following the half recipe, this will only fill half the pan-shape as necessary. Bake uncovered in 350 degree oven until done, about 45 minutes. Garnish with lemon wedges if desired.

Wini's Lemon Tea Bread

So good as finger food at a party or with tea!



-Juice 1 lemon and combine with 1/3 cup granulated sugar in a small bowl. Set aside until bread finishes baking.

-Grate the rind (zest) of 1 lemon and combine with ½ cup of shredded coconut in a small bowl. Set aside.

-Sift together 1 ½ cups of flour, 1 tsp baking powder, and 1 tsp salt in a bowl. Set aside.

In a bowl pour a ½ cup of milk to add alternately with dry ingredients. Set aside.

Combine 6 tbsp butter with 1 cup of sugar and 2 eggs in a large bowl.

After the butter, 1 cup of sugar and two eggs are well creamed with electric mixers, put the electric mixer away. Alternately add, by folding motions, the flour mixture and the ½ cup of milk. Then fold in coconut/lemon rind mixture. Bake 350 degrees in a greased loaf pan for about 55 minutes. If the top browns before loaf tests done (a clean toothpick), place foil on top. Top with lemon juice/sugar mix while loaf still is hot from the oven.

Enjoy!

Camping 3: Pasta with Pesto and Honey Glazed Carrots

This was a quick one. We brought our own pesto from home (see my archived recipe) and cooked up some pasta. Then we chopped up some fresh carrots (Again from Foggy Meadow Farms) and poured in some honey since we didn't have any brown sugar. It was delicious and healthy...and light! This is especially good if you eat at the Wheel Inn that morning...oof!

Camping 2: Pork Loin and Green Beans

Buy pork loin. Put over fire. Slather in BBQ sauce. Cook through. Steam fresh green beans from uncle's farm. Foggy Meadow Farms in Benson, Vermont.

eat.

Camping 1 - Italian Sausage with Peppers and Onions

When most people think of camping they imagine hotdogs and Kraft macaroni and cheese. Not us.

This is an easy meal that you can do over the fire or whatever type of grill apparatus you have.

We cooked up some good Italian sausage (I like them a little spicy) over the fire. While that was going we chopped up some fresh peppers and onions and steamed them (kept them covered) with a little butter and olive oil... or whatever you have. That's the beauty of camping. You can make room over your grill for two pans, or, if you have several spots to cook like us, you can have two going at once. Toast some hot dog buns and voila!

It's so much better than your standard hot dog...it makes your camping just a little more exquisite. And a little red wine doesn't hurt...

Pizza Blanca with Arugula

I must admit I was inspired by the Barefoot Contessa on this. It was really easy and I have a new love of arugula... you have to try it!

Ingredients
-arugula
-pizza dough
-fresh garlic (one clove per pizza)
-one lemon
-Parmesan cheese
-mozzarella cheese
-olive oil

Flatten out your defrosted pizza dough into personal pizzas. Plump up the edges to make a crust. Sprinkle on some olive oil and add pieces of fresh mozzarella and sprinkle on parmesan cheese. Add freshly crushed garlic and slip into the oven at 425 for about 20 minutes. When it comes out of the oven, add the arugula which has been tossed with lemon juice and sprinkle on some more parm cheese. ENJOY!

Life Happens

oh blog... I know you probably don't remember me, but I'm the girl who used to write posts on you many times a month. I feel guilty now... like I completely abandoned you, but sometimes life happens.

The last few weeks of the school year were pretty busy, but they were especially HOT. Dan and I lost power on Father's Day while we were making dinner... which meant a very hot kitchen and apartment. A NYC summer gets so boiling, probably because of all the cement, that it is especially hard to really cook. (Can you imagine Marilyn Monroe cooking in this heat during The Seven Year Itch??)

I do want to say that I have done some cooking and enjoyed some fine culinary experiences (chocolate dipped strawberries with Nicole, Bill's yummy pasta, mom's taboulli)... but somehow it did not get on the blog. It didn't help that the computer back home doesn't like blogger for some reason.

Then something else happened that certainly distracted me for awhile - an engagement! The Friday night before Independence Day Dan the Man popped the big question... so needless to say my mind has been occupied since (I said yes).

Anyway, I will be rejoining you very shortly - I have some great pizza ideas and I need to get those other meals up... and now I have wedding food to think about too.

I just need to remember that it's ok to take a breather... life happens.